macbox

macbox

A real Mac for your coding agent. macbox lets Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, or any MCP client build, test, run, and tap through native iOS apps on a real Mac in the cloud, from any machine, including Linux boxes and cloud agent sandboxes.

• Build and test: xcodebuild and your XCTest and UI tests, on a Mac mini running the latest Xcode. Your agent gets the results and the error lines.
• Run and drive the app: launch it on the iOS simulator, read what's on screen, tap, type, and swipe, so your agent can check its own work.
• Watch live: every running app gets a browser link where you can watch and use it too.

Pay per Mac minute, whole minutes only: $0.05, and a job under a minute is free. Get access and free credit at macbox.build.

Set up

The quickest way: tell your agent

Set up macbox by following https://api.macbox.build/guide/

Or pick your client:

Claude Code (plugin: skill + MCP tools)

claude plugin marketplace add opslane/macbox-agent
claude plugin install macbox@macbox

Any MCP client (Codex, Cursor, Claude Desktop, VS Code, ...), with Node 18+:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "macbox": { "command": "npx", "args": ["-y", "macbox", "mcp"] }
  }
}

The CLI (macOS or Linux):

curl -fsSL https://api.macbox.build/install.sh | sh
macbox login
macbox setup      # installs the skill for Claude Code and Codex, and notes in CLAUDE.md / AGENTS.md

Log in with macbox login, or set MACBOX_API_KEY (in a cloud agent, as an environment secret).

What your agent gets

MCP tool	CLI	What it does
build	macbox build	Build for the iOS simulator (or macOS, for a Mac app)
test	macbox test	Run tests on a fresh simulator; one PASS/FAIL line per test
screenshot	macbox screenshot	Launch the last build and return a picture
run	macbox run	Launch the app and keep it running; returns a live link
describe, tap, type, swipe, press_button, look	macbox ui ...	Use the running app like a person
stop	macbox stop	End the running app
report_problem	macbox feedback	Tell the macbox team when something on our side is wrong

For deeper work there is also macbox mcp --xcode: Sentry's open-source MobileBuildMCP Xcode tools (LLDB debugging, Swift packages, simulator settings), running on the macbox Mac.

How it works

macbox sends the files git tracks (never .env files unless you ask) to one Mac mini, into your own macOS VM that only you use and that can't reach other VMs or our network. Only changed files are sent after the first time, and the build cache stays, so the second build is fast. Native iOS apps work today: Xcode projects and workspaces, Swift packages, CocoaPods, XcodeGen. Not yet: signing, TestFlight, React Native, Flutter.

Full guide: https://api.macbox.build/guide/ · Questions: Discord

This repository

The open parts of macbox: the Claude Code plugin (.claude-plugin/, skills/, .mcp.json), the macbox npm package (npm/, which downloads the CLI from api.macbox.build and checks it against the published SHA256SUMS), and the MCP Registry entry (server.json). The macbox service itself runs on our Macs.

MIT licensed.